Tag: Birmingham

SOLAR EYES – EP Review: “Crooked Orbit”

On By EclecticMusicLoverIn Reviews2 Comments

One of my favorite English acts over the past three and a half years has been psychedelic pop/rock band Solar Eyes. Their music is an arresting style of alternative pop/rock awash in dramatic psychedelic grooves, twangy Western-style guitars and dreamy cinematic synths, giving them a distinctly unique sound. Based in Birmingham, they now consist primarily of singer-songwriter, musician and producer Glenn Smyth and drummer Sebastian Maynard-Francis (former member, guitarist/producer Tom Ford, moved out of the area and no longer performs live with them, but still helps with the production of some of their music).

They’ve released three EPs, numerous singles and a self-titled debut album Solar Eyes last February (2024). One of their songs, “I See the Sun”, went all the way to #1 on my Weekly Top 30 and ended up ranking #18 on my 100 Best Songs of 2022 list. I’ve featured them many times on this blog, and you can read some of those reviews by clicking on the ‘Related’ links at the end of this post.

Sebastian Maynard-Francis and Glenn Smyth

Now they return with a new EP Crooked Orbit, released via Fierce Panda Records and featuring remixes of five of the tracks from their album Solar Eyes. Smyth explains his impetus for doing the EP: “I’d had this idea of doing a remix EP, as I’d always loved remixes of Primal Scream, UNKLE and Death in Vegas, The ‘She Kissed The Gun’ remix sounds like it’s from something off ‘XTRMNTR’, which is my favourite Primals album. Then it all sort of fell into shape, and it’s even given the songs a new slant. It’s been joyous hearing the remixes coming in.”

Each of the remixes were done by musicians and/or producers who’ve previously worked with or collaborated with Solar Eyes. The first track, “She Kissed the Gun (Hibs Mix)” was remixed by London-based mix engineer and composer Jeff Knowler, who also mixed all the songs on Solar Eyes. The original, which features backing vocals by Melissa Severn, is a brooding and sultry psychedelic affair. For his remix, Knowler dials up the energy by speeding up the tempo and adding more aggressive percussion and all sorts of wild and otherworldly spacy synths that take the song to a whole new level.

So too with “Bulldozer (Hibs Mix)“, in which Knowler adds a lot of dynamism to the track, mainly through a heavier, more assertive beat, rumbling bass, edgier synths and a fantastic twangy guitar solo in the bridge. I actually like this remix better than the original. “Acid Test (The Walls Are Closing In On Me) (Looking Glass Alice Remix)” is a marvelous reimagining of the original by London-based psychedelic pop band Looking Glass Alice. Though most of the lyrics have been removed, the track is brimming with unbridled energy, wobbly psychedelic synths and pulse-pounding tribal beats. Reminiscent of some of the great disco songs of the 70s and beyond, the track is the perfect vehicle for losing yourself on the dance floor.

“Alcatraz (Tom Ford Remix)” is probably the most different-sounding from the original of all the remixes. Former band guitarist Tom Ford completely deconstructs and reimagines the original “Alcatraz” to create an incredibly trippy and futuristic-sounding fantasia of rapid trip hop beats, gnarly industrial synths and distorted otherworldly vocals. Once again, many of the original vocals have been stripped away, and amidst all the discordant sounds he injects enchanting little piano trills and jazzy drum fills that provide an interesting textural contrast.

“Take Me to the Man (Liam McKeown x Liam Connolly Remix)” is a languid and sexy remix by Birmingham musician Liam McKeown, who played additional guitar and keyboards on three of the Solar Eyes tracks, and English electronic/deep house musician Liam Connolly. Whereas the original is pure psychedelic rock, highlighted by a strong driving bassline and gnarly guitars, the remix is a mesmerizing deep house beauty. I love the sultry pulsating beat fortified by assertive hand claps and stabbing synth chords, backed by a plethora of spacey atmospheric sounds. Once again, many of the lyrics of the original have been removed, leaving Smyth repeatedly singing the opening line “I have the keys to the earth“, followed by “And put your faith in the man, he will take you from this land“, ending with “And take me to the man” over and over in the final third of the song.

Crooked Orbit is quite frankly one of the finest collection of remixes I’ve heard in a long while, as each of the five tracks is a total reconstruction and reimagining of the original recordings so that they sound completely new and fresh, not merely rehashed takes.

Solar Eyes Socials: Facebook / X / Instagram

Find their music on Spotify / Apple Music / Soundcloud / YouTube / Bandcamp

JOE PEACOCK – EP Review: “Beast Mode”

On By EclecticMusicLoverIn Reviews7 Comments

Joe Peacock is a British singer-songwriter and musician who was born and raised in rural Herefordshire and now based in Birmingham, England. Describing himself as “a genre-hopping storyteller, whose music has been compared to Bowie, Blur and Costello”, he cheekily adds “all money from the digital sales of my music go into paying producers/mixing & mastering engineers.” Not only is he a hard-working and talented songwriter and musician who’s not afraid to continually experiment and push himself beyond his comfort zone, but also a thoughtful family man who cares deeply about the environment, social justice and inequality.

Mr. Peacock rediscovered his creative spark during the Covid lockdowns, and began writing and recording songs at home, handling all aspects of performance and recording. The prolific artist has released a tremendous amount of music in over the past three years, including three albums – I’m Only Here, in April 2021, Before the robots told us where to go, in December 2021, and Mirror Neuron Generator, in July 2022 – as well as numerous singles and four EPs, one of which, The curse of the mind, I reviewed last August. In addition, he’s also one half of art-folk duo The Missed Trees, his side project with singer/fiddle player Louisa Davies-Foley, who released their three-track EP Animals last April. Now he returns with his fifth EP Beast Mode, featuring six fascinating animal-themed tracks based on real events. He hosted a listening party for the EP yesterday, in which he provided lots of insight behind each track.

The EP kicks off with “Pass the puffer“, a song inspired by an episode of the BBC program Spy in the Wild, which detailed how dolphins swimming round a puffer fish can become blissed out from small doses of the lethal toxins emitted by the fish. He was prompted to do a bit of research on dolphins and created a song not intended to be political or animal rights based, but simply a cheeky observation of the dolphins’ strange behaviour. “One bite can paralyze and kill a human, but dolphins get a buzz off the neurotoxin. Are they purposely experimenting, then going off to look at their reflection? Pass the puffer before the seas get rougher.” I love the edgy cinematic synths, grungy psychedelic guitars and pulsating synth-bass, and the chirpy dolphin sounds early in the song are wonderful. Peacock’s vocals remind me of Damon Albarn, frontman of British bands Blur and Gorillaz.

“Fed to the tigers” tells the story of Marius, a two-year-old giraffe born and raised at Copenhagen Zoo. Though healthy, he was genetically unsuitable for future captive breeding because his genes were over-represented in the captive population, so the zoo authorities decided to euthanize him on February 9, 2014, after which his body was dissected and necropsied in a public educational class, then fed to the zoo’s lions and tigers. Peacock notes “They didn’t want to sell him to some private collector or a circus so decided the most humane thing was to kill him and feed him to the tigers. I don’t make a judgement, just think it’s a dilemma that’s worth thinking about.”

His lyrics are both bitterly direct and heartbreaking: “Perfectly healthy (and utterly adorable). The zoo said it had no choice, but to kill poor Marius. Shot through the head, he died instantly. He will take up space for more genetically valuable giraffes. He is of no use to us and he costs us money. We can’t exceed our carrying capacity. Overpopulation is a problem you know.” The dark, spacey synths and heavy guitar tremolo lends a strong, disconcerting undercurrent to the track.

On “Cyborg (Broken Animal)“, Peacock explores the idea of using technology to control or even alter humans and animals. He elaborates further: “There’s a philosophical element to it in terms of how we should feel about experimenting with impulses going straight to the brain to control movements and things, plus a bit of a fear of what if it goes wrong and robot-insect armies start attacking us!” He sings “I’m picking up a signal, picking up a signal. My brain is now wired differently. I didn’t pop a pill or flick a switch, but I am tuning in now. See the cyborgs all around, the offspring of necessity. Our motherboards are so corrupted, we are all breaking down.” Musically, the song has a quirky but pleasant sci-fi vibe, with lots of glitchy synths and a gnarly guitar solo layered over a bouncy, repetitive dance beat.

One of the six tracks is a remix of “Cyborg” by the EP’s producer Chris Marney, titled the “Cyborg (Cyber Madness Remix)”. Marney removes Peacock’s guitar solo and fortifies those glitchy sci-fi synths with added sheen, also expanding the track by one minute and ten seconds. Peacock’s vocals have also been put through a vocoder, enhancing the overall spacey vibe. I can’t pick one over the other, as I really like both versions.

“Sweet Kiss of Death” was inspired by a true story about a young Irish horse trainer and jockey named Frank Hayes who died of a heart attack while riding a horse named Sweet Kiss in a race at Belmont Park in New York in 1923. Hayes died in the latter part of the race, but his body remained in the saddle when Sweet Kiss crossed the finish line. Peacock wrote the poignant lyrics from the point of view of the horse, who was nicknamed Sweet Kiss of Death for the rest of her life. (Wikipedia) “I don’t know why your heart failed, but you’d been under pressure to lose weight. You strove and sweated, denied yourself water. Was it all too much? You never complained. Laid to rest in your racing silks, you were ready to ride again. When the reaper paid a visit, I felt your dead weight before we crossed the line. They called me the sweet kiss of death, but I carried you home.” The song opens with a what sounds like a melancholy electronic oboe, which is soon joined by what Peacock calls a weird talking bass sound he used to keep the song from sounding too overly reggae. Despite the rather dour subject matter, the song still has a lighthearted feel.

The final track “Radioactive Hybrid Terror Pigs (24 remix)” is a reimagining of a song he originally released as a stand-alone single in October 2022. Peacock says “It was the first song Chris mixed for me, so I thought I’d bring it back. It was fast and punky all the way through before, so I slowed down the verses and chopped up the guitar line, adding a few synth elements, too.” The song was inspired by a story he read about how wild boars moved into contaminated land in Hiroshima, Japan after World War II. They didn’t appear to have suffered any ill effects from the radiation, and eventually inter-bred with domesticated pigs that had been left behind in the desperate aftermath of the disaster.

Peacock added “The title’s a little bit sensationalist, but when I read it, I just thought that has to be a song! Thematically it fits perfectly with this EP.” The remix verses are sung in a skittering, almost dubstep groove with gnarly guitars, accompanied by sounds of blaring sirens as he sings “A nuclear disaster took all the humans away. Down from the mountains the boars made a foray into the dangers of the big exclusion zone. Almost indestructible, this place became their home.” The music then ramps up to a furious galloping pace in the choruses as he plaintively asks “What can we do now they’ve moved in? Radioactive hybrid terror pigs. Fierce and wild, but domesticated, too.” It’s an entertaining take on a somewhat creepy subject.

Though Beast Mode might not be everyone’s cup of tea, I think it’s pretty brilliant, and another fine example of Joe Peacock’s impressive imagination, songwriting and musicianship. He also created the lovely cover art for the EP using AI.

Follow Joe:  Facebook / X (Twitter) / Instagram

Find his music on Bandcamp / Spotify / Apple Music / YouTube / Soundcloud

SOLAR EYES – Single Review: “Let’s Run Away”

On By EclecticMusicLoverIn Reviews14 Comments

I became a huge fan of British psychedelic pop/rock act Solar Eyes in the summer of 2021 when they first released their brilliant single “Naked Monkey on a Spaceship”. They subsequently dropped an even better single “I See the Sun”, which I loved so much, it went all the way to #1 on my Weekly Top 30, and ended up ranking #18 on my 100 Best Songs of 2022 list.

Their music is an arresting style of pop/rock awash in dramatic psychedelic grooves, twangy Western-style guitars and dreamy cinematic synths, giving them a distinctly unique sound. Based in Birmingham, they now consist primarily of singer-songwriter, musician and producer Glenn Smyth and drummer Sebastian Maynard-Francis, along with new bassist Emily Doyle (former member, guitarist Tom Ford, moved out of the area and no longer performs live with them, but still helps with the production of some of their music).

Glenn and Sebastian in Austin, Texas

Their music has been featured in numerous televised sporting events, including Sky Sports, BT Sport, BBC Match Of The Day and Birmingham City Football Club, as well as traditional alt-rock radio channels such as BBC Introducing Hereford, BBC 6 Music and The Guardian. Last spring, they had the privilege of performing at the legendary SXSW (South by Southwest) festival in Austin, Texas. In February 2022, Solar Eyes signed with the label Fierce Panda Records, through which they’ve released three EPs – Dreaming of the Moon, Alcatraz, and Naked Monkey on a Spaceship. (I’ve reviewed quite a bit of their music, and you can read some of those reviews by clicking on the ‘Related’ links at the end of this post.)   

Now they’re back with a terrific new single “Let’s Run Away“, the second single from their forthcoming debut self-titled album Solar Eyes, set for release on February 16th, which they’ll be launching with a hometown show at Birmingham’s Hare & Hounds. The song was written by Smyth, who co-produced it with Francis, and mixed and mastered by Jeff Knowler. Smyth played guitar and sang vocals, Francis played drums and percussion, Liam McKeown played additional guitar and keyboards, and Tom Boddison played slide guitar.

Smyth wrote, and the band recorded, the song following Solar Eyes’ appearance a SXSW last year, where he was inspired by the historical lore and Tex-Mex flavor of the Austin region. Specifically, he drew inspiration from “small-town tales of daylight robberies in times of old and rumours of the last crimes of the infamous duo Bonnie & Clyde“. He elaborates: “‘Let’s Run Away’ was one of the last songs to be written on the album; it was written in Texas last March when we were out there playing South by Southwest. You can sort of hear it as well, there’s that Americana haze type sound. Spaghetti western vibe. I sort of had in my head – now this might sound a bit mad – Tracey Chapman ‘Fast Car’ – in essence, but with a brummie slant.”

Accordingly, the song features their signature exciting Spaghetti Western-style guitar lines layered over lush cinematic synths and a haunting psychedelic groove, fortified by Francis’ energetic galloping drumbeats. It all beautifully conveys a sense of intrigue and remorse expressed in the lyrics delivered by Smyth’s wonderful droning layered vocals: “I hope that given time, you’ll forgive my crimes, I don’t wanna die alone, I love you, I let you go, I’m to blame / I see it all, I heed the call, let’s run away…”

“Let’s Run Away” is another fine song from Solar Eyes, and in fact, their entire forthcoming album is outstanding. The colorful animated video was created by the band’s new bassist Emily Doyle.

Connect with Solar Eyes: Facebook / Twitter / Instagram

Find their music on Spotify / Apple Music / Soundcloud / YouTube

JOE PEACOCK – EP Review: “The curse of the mind”

On By EclecticMusicLoverIn Reviews8 Comments

Joe Peacock is a British singer-songwriter and musician based in Birmingham, England. Describing himself as “a genre-hopping storyteller, whose music has been compared to Bowie, Blur and Costello”, he cheekily adds “all money from the digital sales of my music go into paying producers/mixing & mastering engineers.” As I do for all music artists or bands I’m writing about for the first time, I read all I could find about him on his own social media pages, as well as other websites and blogs, and listened to a fair amount of his substantial music catalog. In the process, I learned that he grew up in rural Herefordshire, went to university in Stoke, and spent seven years living in St. Petersburg, Russia before settling in Birmingham. Not only is he a hard-working and talented songwriter and musician who’s not afraid to continually experiment and push himself beyond his comfort zone, but also a thoughtful family man who cares deeply about the environment, social justice and inequality, things he spoke passionately about in a January 2022 interview with COOLTOP20 music blog.  

According to his bio, Mr. Peacock rediscovered his creative spark during the Covid lockdowns, and began writing and recording songs at home, handling all aspects of performance and recording. From what I can tell, the prolific artist has released a tremendous amount of music in less than three years, including three albums – I’m Only Here, in April 2021, Before the robots told us where to go, in December 2021, and Mirror Neuron Generator, in July 2022 – as well as two EPs and numerous singles. In addition, he’s also one half of art-folk duo The Missed Trees, his side project with singer/fiddle player Louisa Davies-Foley, who released their three-track EP Animals in April. Now he’s back with a new EP The curse of the mind, featuring four marvelous tracks written, performed and recorded by him, and beautifully mixed and mastered by Adam Whittaker.

The first track, “Thought Camera“, is a magnificent and complex tour de force that, to my ears, sounds like David Bowie singing a Radiohead song that was arranged by Pink Floyd. Incorporating elements of alternative, progressive and dream rock with a stirring orchestral arrangement, Peacock creates a gorgeous cinematic fantasia. His dramatic instrumentation, particularly the haunting piano notes, soaring strings, gnarly guitars and tumultuous percussion, are truly spectacular.

The searing lyrics explore aspects of privacy and mind-control, which he elaborated on in a Tumblr post: “it’s about privacy and the desires by the powerful to monetise our thoughts. Nikola Tesla had an idea for a thought camera, which would project our thoughts onto a wall. Now social media is big business – monetising our anger from us posting our thoughts online. I wonder why Elon Musk is so keen to throw money at Twitter – he named his car company after Tesla, so does he want to use that to help control our thoughts?” He sings “Could we light the world up with the electricity generated by your hatred? /These electrical impulses should be put to use! How will we know if this is all an illusion? You can think deeply and be quite insane. Are there signs we should look out for? Mr. Orwell might be quite amazed by the surveillance, but we still don’t have a mind-reading machine. So I can make sense of your world, I need the thought camera that Nikola dreamed of.“

On “Poltergeist“, which Peacock states was inspired by The Haunting of Alma Fielding, a book by Kate Summerscale that explores a case where a woman reported being haunted by a poltergeist, as well as what he calls “a few bits of personal experience on exploring the supernatural at an impressionable age and (probably unrelated) psychological problems”, he touches on mental health issues: “Scaring everyone like a poltergeist. Have you opened the door into another mind? Can you tell me what’s wrong?” As the title suggests, the song has a haunting quality, yet Peacock employs some melodic touches like a breezy melody, soothing orchestral strings, warbly guitar notes and falsetto vocals to lighten the mood a bit.

He addresses brainwashing and thought-control by authoritarian regimes on “Cult of fake heroes“, using the Soviet Union as an example. He further explains on his Tumblr post: “I use the story of Pavlik Morozov, who, according to the propaganda of the time, informed on his father for anti-communist activities and was a model soviet citizen brutally murdered by others in his family for what he’d done. His story was then told by Stalin’s regime (despite the dictator being scathing of him when he initially heard the story) to inspire others to inform on family, friends and neighbours during the red terror and he inspired patriotism in pioneers and schoolchildren.” He expresses this story thusly: “Every school kid learned his name. The storyline was powerful. At the time they needed heroes. From a village in Siberia got his dad into trouble. Murdered and made an icon.”

I love the track’s intense jangly guitars and emphatic drumbeats, punctuated by stabbing rhythmic flourishes, which Peacock created using an odd 5/4 time signature, which he said gives it a slightly strange, unbalanced feel.

“The Outsider“, which Peacock says is about the outside artist Henry Darger, is for me the most unusual track on the EP, both from a musical and lyrical standpoint. He elaborates about the artist on Tumblr: “He suffered traumatic events in his childhood, which affected his ability to interact with people. He had very few friends and mainly kept himself to himself, working as a janitor and then locking himself away in his room. It was not until he became very ill and was moved into a hospice that his artworks and graphic novels were discovered. He’s acknowledged as the archetypal outsider artist.” He tells Darger’s story with his colorful descriptive lyrics: “15,000 pages of fantasy, in the realms of the unreal. 9-foot-long drawings on both sides, his panoramic sagas. Emotionally arrested, he didn’t know what to do with freedom. He wrote about the weather, when not in fantastic battles in his mind.”

To create the unsettling but darkly beautiful soundscape, he used fragments of guitar parts he chopped up and then put back together. He layers them over a droning melody, accompanied by harsh industrial synths, chiming guitar notes and a strong synth bass groove. That, combined with his array of echoed vocals, otherworldly chants of “ah-bah-suh-duh”, and menacing whispers, the song would be a perfect fit for the musical Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street.

Given it’s rather unusual song structures, creative arrangements and unique instrumentation, it took a couple of listens for me to fully appreciate the magnificence of this remarkable EP. With The curse of the mind, Joe Peacock has pushed himself to create an exquisite piece of musical art, and I’m so happy he reached out to me about it!

Connect with Joe:  Facebook / Twitter / Instagram

Find his music on Bandcamp / Spotify / Apple Music / YouTube / Soundcloud

TREMENDOUS – Single Review: “Fingerprints”

On By EclecticMusicLoverIn Reviews7 Comments

Hailing from Birmingham, England is TREMENDOUS, a musical act fronted by singer-songwriter and guitarist Mark Dudzinski, who with a revolving roster of musicians, creates an exuberant and colorful brand of glam rock. They began dropping a series of singles in 2018, which culminated in the release of their excellent debut album Relentless in May 2020. (My reviews of the album and two of the singles can be read by clicking on the ‘Related’ links at the end of this post.) Both the album and singles garnered widespread critical acclaim from numerous music writers, as well as significant airplay on several British and internet radio programs.

After a bit of a hiatus, due in part to the pandemic but also issues with unreliable musicians, TREMENDOUS is back and sounding better than ever with a great new single “Fingerprints“. The song starts off gently, with just Mark’s tender heartfelt vocals accompanied by a beautiful strummed electric guitar. At 45 seconds, the song abruptly transitions to a stirring power ballad beginning with the first chorus, fueled by a barrage of gnarly guitars, throbbing bass and thunderous percussion. As the track continues, the band lives up to its name, delivering a series of scorching guitar solos that can only be described as tremendous.

Mark has a distinctive and pleasing tenor singing voice that hovers just below a falsetto, which he uses to great effect here as he plaintively croons the lyrics that speak to the hurt and pain caused by a former lover who he’s having a very tough time getting over, with every word or memory only serving to reinforce those feelings of pain and loss: “Fingerprints all over my heart. All over the sad part baby, you break in daily. There’s only bad in goodbye.”

“Fingerprints”, which officially drops on all major music platforms on August 4th, is a superb track, and I’m happy to report that the three-year hiatus has not diminished Mark’s songwriting or musicianship in the least.

Connect with Tremendous on Facebook / Twitter / Instagram
Find their music on Spotify / Soundcloud / Apple Music / Amazon

SOLAR EYES – EP Review: “Naked Monkey on a Spaceship”

On By EclecticMusicLoverIn Reviews4 Comments

I first learned about British psychedelic pop/rock collective Solar Eyes in the summer of 2021 when they initially released their fantastic single “Naked Monkey on a Spaceship”. I loved it at first listen, happily featuring the song on this blog. They subsequently dropped an even better single “I See the Sun”, which I loved so much, it went all the way to #1 on my Weekly Top 30, and ended up ranking #18 on my 100 Best Songs of 2022 list.

The Birmingham-based trio is comprised of singer-songwriter, musician and producer Glenn Smyth, drummer Sebastian Maynard-Francis and guitarist Tom Ford (who still records with the band, but moved away so no longer performs live with them). Their music is an arresting style of pop/rock awash in dramatic psychedelic grooves, twangy Western-style surf guitars and dreamy cinematic synths, giving them a distinctly unique sound. Their music has been featured in numerous televised sporting events, including Sky Sports, BT Sport, BBC Match Of The Day and Birmingham City Football Club, as well as traditional alt-rock radio channels such as BBC Introducing Hereford, BBC 6 Music and The Guardian.

In February 2022, Solar Eyes signed to Fierce Panda Records, and as is common with many labels and management companies, they had the band take down, then gradually re-release, their previously released material under the new label. Solar Eyes released their debut EP Dreaming of the Moon in April 2022, which I also reviewed. They re-released “I See the Sun” that September, then followed in October with a second EP Alcatraz, which featured “I See the Sun” along with five new tracks. Now they’re back with their third EP Naked Monkey on a Spaceship, featuring four new songs plus the title track that first introduced me to the band. 

Glenn was inspired to write “Naked Monkey on a Spaceship” after hearing a friend proclaim “life is like being a naked monkey on a spaceship, with no control.” The song is darkly beautiful and mesmerizing, with a Depeche Mode-esque vibe, highlighted by a pulsating bass groove, and featuring lush, eerie synths, propulsive drums and swirling riffs of psychedelic guitars. I love Glenn’s gentle droning vocals that have an almost sensual, otherworldly quality.

The cool animated video for the song was created by Birmingham-based videographer, lighting and visual design producer Matt Watkins, who’s also created videos and produced visual design & lighting for live performances by numerous acts, most notably Gorillaz.

Their signature twangy Western-style guitars make an appearance on “Lucifer’s Child” a dark cinematic gem about a devil woman who spreads evil and darkness wherever she goes. Glenn calls out her evil nature: “They schooled you well in the art of deceit. It’s second nature to your evil dreams. She sends the light, the light away“, then warns “But don’t you mess with me again.” The track ends in a discordant flurry of fading distortion in the outro.

Next up is the hauntingly beautiful “Someone Else“, a departure from their usual harder-driven style, and an instant favorite of mine. The multi-textured guitars and dreamy synths are gorgeous, as are Glenn’s melancholic but lovely vocals. About the song, he explained “I’ve been tinkering around with ‘Someone Else’ for years. Initially I wrote it after reading the book ‘Marching Powder’ – I’m sure Brad Pitt bought the rights to it and was going to do a film about it, so I was ready to jump in with it if needed, haha. But as time went on it sort of took on a life of its own, with that feeling that you’re turning into someone else, someone you’re not… going down a dark path. The path of least resistance. Blaming others and then a realisation it’s all on you.”

After the relative calm of “Someone Else”, we’re launched headlong into “Roll The Dice“, which the band calls a “tub-thumping call to arms in the midst of these troubled, rubbled times, top loaded with that Chemical Brothers/Primal Scream mashed-up sound, with the drive and swagger of Black Rebel Motorcycle Club as well as a sly nod to the sonic mysteries of Messrs Morricone and Pizzorno.” The video, created by Tom Wagstaff, features surreal black and white kaleidoscopic images interspersed with scenes of a young woman dancing in a bucolic park setting.

The final track “Rabbit Hole” is a psychedelic trip of ominous swirling synths, distorted guitars and spacey sound effects layered over an almost sinister stomping beat. Glenn’s echoed vocals have a menacing, otherworldly feel, perfectly complementing the songs overall spooky vibe as he drones “I’m going down rabbit holes. Looking for what, I don’t know. To know the answers. I’ll keep on searching, I’ll find a cure. I’ll find a lover, won’t that be cool./ I’m on a trip to a different world.“

When I first wrote about their music more than a year and a half ago, Glenn told me he’d written lots of songs he was eager to get out into the world. With Naked Monkey on a Spaceship, Solar Eyes now has a total of 16 songs to their credit, all of them superb. I can’t wait to hear what they still have up their musical sleeves!

Glenn and Sebastian are currently in Austin, Texas, where they’ll be performing their songs at the legendary South By Southwest music festival.

Connect with Solar Eyes: Facebook / Twitter / Instagram

Find their music on Spotify / Apple Music / Soundcloud / YouTube

SOLAR EYES – EP Review: “Dreaming of the Moon”

On By EclecticMusicLoverIn Reviews11 Comments

One of my best new finds in 2021 was British psychedelic pop/rock collective Solar Eyes. Based in Birmingham and formed little more than a year ago, the trio is comprised of singer-songwriter, musician and producer Glenn Smyth, Tom Ford and Sebastian Maynard-Francis, who together play an arresting style of pop/rock awash in colorful psychedelic grooves, twangy surf guitars and dreamy cinematic synths. The moment I heard their music I became a fan, and happily reviewed their fantastic singles “Naked Monkey on a Spaceship” and “I See the Sun” (you can read those reviews by clicking on the ‘Related’ links at the end of this post), both of which included B-side tracks. I loved them all, and “I See the Sun” recently spent four months on my Weekly Top 30, two of them at #1. In February, Solar Eyes signed to Fierce Panda Records, through which they’re now releasing their debut EP Dreaming of the Moon, which drops today.

The EP features five tracks addressing a variety of topics, including love, loss, betrayal and the cost of fame. It opens with the title track “Dreaming of the Moon“, a haunting song with some of those gorgeous and cinematic Spaghetti Western vibes I love so much in “I See the Sun”, only slowed down and with greater emotional intensity. A mix of twangy and grungy guitars are layered over a galloping rhythmic beat and a backdrop of moody psychedelic synths, creating a sense of urgency and longing. Glenn has a pleasing voice, and here his vocals have an almost ethereal quality, which he uses to great effect to share his dreams with a loved one for a better life away from the world: “I been dreaming of the moon, I’m gonna get there soon and build a house for us two loons. I’m gonna drive us there, in my own spaceship, and let the world know that I got out. I been dreaming of the moon, how am I gonna make you see that I, really love you?“

Here’s a cool 360° video of the band performing the song:

“Nothing’s for Free” is a rousing stomper that seems to touch on the perils of being a rock star: “Make some money, girls will find you funny. The bright lights–they make you see, ahhh – nothing’s for free.” I love the song’s exuberant New Order-esque sound, with its lush, cinematic synths, swirling guitars and buoyant driving rhythms. On “Russian Roulette“, Glenn laments of a woman who stole his love and soul, leaving him alone and miserable: “In so much pain, but I’m not to blame. Can you put me out of my misery. The end is here, it’s all coming clear, my sense of freedom has gone.” The music is appropriately dark, with more of those wonderful twangy guitars and moody synths. But the highlight for me are the gorgeous notes from what sounds like a mandolin or balalaika, which combined with the mournful vocal chorus, give the song an almost funereal Russian feel.

“Nobody Knows” is a full-blown rocker, with screaming psychedelic riffs, driving bass and thunderous drums that really get our blood pumping. The biting lyrics take issue with self-appointed people who make decisions that have a major impact on society, but are they right or do they even know what they’re doing? “Ooh burn the witches, ooh they’re just bitches. What did it solve? Nobody cares. / Ooh they’re the rulers, ooh they’re the soldiers, who is in charge? Nobody knows.” The music calms to a lovely interlude as it slowly fades out in the final 40 seconds or so.

The final track “Sitting Here on My own Again” reminds me of the music of another band, but I can’t quite put my finger on who it is. At any rate, it’s a wonderful, upbeat-sounding song, but with bittersweet lyrics about preferring to be alone and unhappy: “I gotta let you go, cos this was too far good. I don’t wanna be happy. I wanna sit on my own and play my guitar to myself and no one can hear what I sing, cos I am on my own. / Crying myself to sleep, and that is just my dream, and don’t you be so sad. It’sjust what we had la, la, la, la, la.” I really like the bouncy melody, and the chiming guitars are particularly enchanting.

Dreaming of the Moon is a fine little EP that nicely showcases Solar Eyes’ impressive creativity, imagination and musicianship. As noted by a fellow music blogger, each song sounds completely different, a good indication of the variety in their sound. I hope they’ll continue making great music together for a very long time.

To coincide with the release of their EP, they’re also giving their first ever live performance as a band tonight at a sold out show at Muthers Studio in Birmingham.

Connect with Solar Eyes: Facebook / Twitter / Instagram

Stream their music:  Spotify / Apple Music / YouTube

TREMENDOUS – Album Review: “Relentless”

On By EclecticMusicLoverIn ReviewsLeave a comment

Tremendous Relentless

As I noted when I first featured them on this blog back in March 2019, it takes some balls for a band to not only call itself ‘TREMENDOUS‘, but also use all caps in their name. Fortunately, the Birmingham, England-based trio deliver the goods with their colorful and exuberant style of Glam Rock that’s heavily influenced by such legendary artists as T.Rex, David Bowie, Journey, Slade, Def Leppard, Mott The Hoople, Cheap Trick, New York Dolls, The Babys, Heart, and Aerosmith. As my guest blogger David Thurling so beautifully articulated: “The swagger and confidence of this band is infectious. They have all the down and dirty of Jagger and Richards at their best, the showmanship and vocal power of Steve Tyler and a sense of fun not often seen amongst young and emerging bands.”

TREMENDOUS are Mark Dudzinski (Guitar/Vocals), Ryan Jee (Bass) and David Lee (Drums). In early 2018, they released their first single “Like Dreamers Do”, and over the next 22 months, followed with “Rock ‘n’ Roll Satellite”, “Don’t Leave Our Love (Open For Closing)” and “Copycat Killer”, the last two of which I’ve previously featured on this blog. (You can read those reviews under the “Related” links at the bottom of this post.) Now they’ve dropped their debut album Relentless, released via the Horrendous Records label on May 15th. The album contains those four singles, along with six new tracks, all of them dealing with the perilous minefield of love and relationships.

Kicking off the album is “Don’t Leave Our Love (Open For Closing)“, a wonderful track that makes for a great introduction to TREMENDOUS. I’ve already written about it pretty extensively, but I’ll just restate that it’s a melodically beautiful and hard-hitting song with terrific guitars, driving bass and aggressive percussion. Mark’s emotive and colorful vocals register in the higher octaves, occasionally venturing into a soaring falsetto that raises the adrenaline. About the lyrics, Mark stated “Its just an age old tale of heartbreak but with a bit of tragedy (as shown in the video). A relationship gone toxic.” He explained that the seemingly contradictory lyrics “don’t leave our love (open for closing)” are actually a plea to not leave things in such a way that the relationship is open to ending. The song’s video is beautifully filmed and entertaining, but also pretty dark, and ends on a rather violent note.

One of my favorite tracks is their first single “Like Dreamers Do“, a lovely romantic ballad that shows the band’s softer side. The chiming guitars and warm piano keys are highlights for me, and Mark’s wailing guitar solo in the bridge is superb, as are his impassioned, heartfelt vocals as he croons “We dream of a million things me and you / as we stare outside and dream like dreamers do.” The rather quirky video produced for the song is really sweet.

The guys get down to their glam rock roots with the rousing tune “Rock’n’Roll Satellite“, delivering a fusillade of fuzz-coated riffs, throbbing bass and lively drumbeats. Mark sings to someone who appears to be his muse, inspiring him in his quest to be a rock star: “You’re my rock’n’roll satellite / light up my tunes and I’m living on your rock, rocket to the moon / You glitter my bones, you glamour my shoes.” On the intense and bluesy “Bag of Nails“, his vocals start off sounding a bit like Alex Turner, but soon return to their usual form as he sings to a woman who treats him like shit: “And I wake up puking over you / And your heart it beats me black and blue / Dreams that I’m chasing my tail / But I’m waking up as your bag of nails.” His guitar work is fantastic, with Ryan and David laying down flawless bass and drum rhythms, respectively. 

Another favorite is “Daniela“, with it’s frantic melody and gnarly, hard-driving riffs. It’s exhilarating balls to the wall rock’n’roll at its finest. “Take a Good Look at My Good” is a slower anthemic ballad with lyrics asking a loved one to show some compassion and mercy: “Letting go of my pride to hold on to your tide.” I like the languid beat, and Mark’s fuzz-coated jangly riffs are great.

The guys ramp up the rock’n’roll vibes in a big way with “Heart Sinker“. Mark furiously shreds his guitar as he emphatically wails “You give love heart disease. You’re just another heart sinker. But you make my heart a little bit pinker.” They keep the hard-hitting rock’n’roll grooves coming on strong with “Fightin’ to Lose“, a frenetic little tune with a lo-fi garage rock vibe, thanks to a grimy mix of surf and distorted guitars and fuzzy drums. “Hell is Only a Blessing Away” has a varying melody that goes from relative calm to frenzied and back again. The guys deliver more of their signature gnarly riffs and driving rhythms that keep the adrenaline flowing.

The album closes on a high note with the frenetic “Copycat Killer“, a raucous, guitar-driven orgy of glam rock goodness. The song opens with the main chorus refrain “I go outta of my head, I go outta of my mind. Now she’s in for the kill and claws out for mine”, tongue-in-cheek clues to a pending doomed relationship. The music then shifts up through the gears of ascending power chords before settling into the verses with chugging riffs, buzzing bass and smashing drumbeats. Mark fervently exclaims “She’s a Copycat Killer, Copycat Killer / Headlines cry over this milk spiller / She’s a Copycat Killer, Copycat Killer / With nine lives she’s the new shock thriller.” It’s rather interesting how the song ends very abruptly.

Relentless is a pretty apt title for this record, as it’s chock-full of non-stop glam rock goodness from start to finish. The three guys who make up TREMENDOUS are all skilled musicians, adept at delivering exceptional rock’n’roll that never lets up during the album’s 28-minute run time. Furthermore, band frontman Mark Dudzinski is a fine singer, with a powerful, wide-ranging vocal style that’s perfectly suited to their exuberant sound.

Connect with Tremendous on Facebook / Twitter / Instagram
Stream their music on Spotify / Soundcloud / Apple Music
Purchase on iTunes / Google Play / Amazon

TREMENDOUS – Single Review: “Copycat Killer”

On By EclecticMusicLoverIn Reviews2 Comments

Tremendous

This review was written by guest reviewer David Thurling, a lover of music from Britain who has graciously offered to help with my crushing workload. I previously featured TREMENDOUS on this blog this past March, when I reviewed their single “Open for Closing”.

On their previous single “Open for Closing”, Birmingham-based British three piece TREMENDOUS tantalized us with a wonderful song that revealed their obvious Glam Rock and Rock influences. EclecticMusicLover previously pointed to such names as T. Rex, Mott the Hoople, Slade and Aerosmith as providing a lot of the DNA for the band’s overall sound. While “Open for Closing” hinted at these influences, the band’s new single, “Copycat Killer” grabs you by the throat and throws you around the room with them.

TREMENDOUS features Mark Dudzinski (Guitar/Vocals), Ryan Jee (Bass) and David Lee (Drums), and on listening to the new single “Copycat Killer”, the guys defy their economy of members by producing a powerhouse performance. The song opens with the main refrain from the chorus, shifting up through the gears of ascending power chords before settling into the verse and vocals. Mark opens with the ominous line: “I go outta of my head, I go outta of my mind. Now she’s in for the kill and claws out for mine“, pre-empting a classic case of pending relationship doom, all with tongue planted firmly in cheek.

Whereas “Open for Closing” featured a sometimes measured, almost sensitive performance in parts, especially with Mark’s exquisite vocal range, there can be no denying that this latest entry to their catalogue is a pure case of raucous “balls’n’all”. The bass and drum rhythms of Ryan and David respectively drive the song along with euphoric and uplifting intensity. The pre-chorus section suddenly reverts to a calming guitar vamp and is enjoyably reminiscent of classic new wave and to some degree guitar driven Brit Pop. We are somewhat reminded of Graham Parker from the 70’s and 80’s to Britpop icons such as Suede and Pulp. This is beautifully structured song writing as the calm is short lived before the guys launch into an undeniably frenetic and entirely catchy chorus:

She’s a Copycat Killer, Copycat Killer
Headlines cry over this milk spiller
She’s a Copycat Killer, Copycat Killer
With nine lives she’s the new shock thriller

The swagger and confidence of this band is infectious. They have all the down and dirty of Jagger and Richards at their best, the showmanship and vocal power of Steve Tyler and a sense of fun not often seen amongst young and emerging bands. “Copycat Killer” may not be the best song TREMENDOUS have delivered but it emphatically announces the band’s determination to reach the top. With TREMENDOUS, hard-hitting guitar music is in very safe hands.

“Copycat Killer” will be officially released November 22 on all streaming platforms, and is the 4th single from their forthcoming debut album Relentless, due for release early in 2020.

Connect with Tremendous on Facebook / Twitter / Instagram
Stream their music on Spotify / Soundcloud / Apple Music
Purchase on iTunes

ALLEN & DOUGLAS – Album Review: “The Spider and the Phoenix”

On By EclecticMusicLoverIn Reviews3 Comments

Allen & Douglas Album Art

Allen and Douglas are a singing & songwriting duo from Birmingham, UK who play an interesting and pleasing style of folk rock. They’re also two prolific guys, recording and releasing eight albums – containing an astonishing total of 128 songs – in under five years! (They pack a lot of tracks into their albums, with each containing anywhere from 14-20 songs.) Their latest offering is The Spider and the Phoenix, which dropped this past March. It’s an ambitious work with 17 tracks, and is essentially a concept album in two parts, though it flows beautifully as one large production.

Lifelong friends, Craig Allen and Steven Douglas began writing songs in their teens. In their bio, they expand a bit on their background and what the latest album is about:

“Strumming, singing and writing away in old railway stations and under canal bridges we developed our sound, harmonies and song-craft as young men through hard work and trial and error. Nowadays after several hiatuses due to differing work and travel paths, we practice and record regularly in a small bedroom studio in Birmingham, UK. We write primarily for pleasure, producing many genres of music. Our latest body of work ‘The Spider and the Phoenix’ is conceptual and charts a journey from depression to recovery.”

They also have a cheeky sense of humour (notice I used the British spelling):

Allen & Douglas funny pic

“The Spider” kicks off the album, not only setting the tone on a musical level, but also establishing the overall theme of depression, represented metaphorically by a spider that spins its web inside our minds, gradually taking over our personality and poisoning our thoughts. The jangly, heavily strummed guitars and spooky keyboard synths lend an unsettling feel to the track, and the guys’ earnest vocals exhibit a hint of menace as they sing: “The Spider inside your mind spins and winds. The Spider deals in junk, what does he find? And I was doing fine.”

The melancholy “I Can’t Stand the Pain” speaks to a relationship that’s unraveling: “You scream it’s finished. And I feel diminished.” Listening to the album, one of the things that strikes me is the strong Pink Floyd vibe running throughout, and this song reminds me a bit of “Comfortably Numb” with it’s interesting use of keyboards and sweeping synths.  And the even sadder “So Blue” finds the singer sinking into despair over his emotional abandonment: “So blue, so very blue. Drowning in memories. / Dissecting reality from dreams, I’m struggling upstream. / Rejection is a mother.”

One of the prettiest tracks is “Set Sail Suite,” a mostly instrumental composition with hauntingly beautiful string and keyboard synths. The song is briefly interrupted in the middle with a sweet interlude of delicate acoustic guitar and the guys’ distant echoed vocals that sing “Set sail, set sail on your way. You never have the courage to sail.” “Dark Matters” is pure folk rock, and really channels Pink Floyd, especially in the vocals. The song has the singer lamenting his state of loneliness: “Since you left me I’ve been so lonely. / Dark matters swirling round my brain. Too much space drives me insane.” These feelings of loss are affirmed on “The Sun Went Out Last Night,” as they sing “I find myself crawling since she went away.”

“Nothing Comes Out to Play” and “Through the Eye of a Needle” wrap up the depression part of the album. Both tracks have some interesting music touches, thanks to a greater use of synths and organ.  The latter is a somber but lovely piece, and finds the singer concluding that the one who broke his heart is not a good person after all, and therefore not worth wasting any more tears on: “You didn’t realize you were dead in the heart. Trampling innocent people filled with fear. You were so busy doing damage. You didn’t realize you would leave tears along the path.”

https://soundcloud.com/allenanddouglas/the-spider

“Wrap it Up” is the first track of the 2nd half of the album “The Phoenix,” that represents recovery. It speaks of beginning the healing process by regaining your sense of sanity: “Catch your psychosis, wrap it up in cellophane. Don’t let it breathe. Squeeze out the pain. / Don’t bubblewrap your brain.”  “And When All Hope is Gone” is actually a quite hopeful tune, with tentative piano and electric guitar notes that gradually expand into a pleasing melody that seems to evoke sunshine breaking through a layer of clouds: “The sun will shine again, and it will lead me from this pain.” This sunshine is celebrated in the cheerful “Rainbows in the Sky,” and the jangly strummed guitars on the track are especially nice.

“Yellow Blue” speaks to a brand new day, while the raw and bluesy “Quite Like You” has the singer extolling the virtues of a new woman who’s captured his attention and heart.  The track has some great guitar and honky-tonk sounding piano.

“The Phoenix” is a declaration of survival and rebirth: “Found myself again. / Shook off the feathers. New feathers give me flight. I feel myself again. Same me, shining very bright. I feel I can fly, I feel I can soar holding hands with the sky.” The song is one of the more interesting tracks on the album from a musical standpoint, with a heavily-strummed guitar riff accompanied by xylophone and plucky electric guitar. At the break, the track transitions with an awesome psychedelic flourish of distorted guitar and organ that continues through to the end. The guys shout “Ha Ha, I am the phoenix!”

The guys turn their attention back to that exciting new woman who’s got their juices flowing on the bouncy, romantic tune “Overflowing.” And album closer “Sweet Sweet Dreams” ends things on an upbeat note, with the singer appraising his happy situation with his new love. It’s a pleasing ending to an expansive work that encompasses a broad range of emotions from pain, despair and bitterness, to acceptance, hope and, finally, joy. This was a terrific concept and theme for an album, and I applaud Allen & Douglas for their skill and success in translating their vision into a coherent and finely-crafted work of near-epic proportions. Their creativity, songwriting and musicianship are impressive, and they should be very proud of The Spider and the Phoenix.

https://soundcloud.com/allenanddouglas/the-phoenix

Connect with Allen & Douglas:  Facebook / Twitter
Stream their music:  Spotify / Reverbnation / Soundcloud / Apple Music
Purchase on  iTunes